70 Directors for Venice 70

Born in Athens, where he studied film and television direction. Since 1995 he has directed videos for dance-theatre companies, television commercials, music videos, short films and plays. In 2011 he staged Chekhov’s Platonov at the Greek National Theatre. Kinetta (2005), his first film, participated successfully at the Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals. His next film Kynodontas (2009) won the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Oscars in 2011 as Best Foreign Language Film, confirming Lanthimos as one of the major figures in new Greek cinema. He came to the Venice Film Festival for the first time in 2010 as an actor and co-producer of Attenberg, directed by his compatriot Athina Rachel Tsangari. He returned as a director in 2011 with Alpeis, winning the Osella for Best Screenplay.